Glossary
Nobody at a county meeting stops to explain what ERCOT or dBA means. Here is the whole list, so the shorthand never keeps you out of the conversation.
Local government runs on shorthand. None of it is complicated once someone tells you what it stands for, and nobody at a commissioners court meeting is going to stop and explain. Here is everything used on this site, plus the terms you will hear in the room.
Who decides things
Runs the electric grid that covers most of Texas, separate from the rest of the country. It decides whether a large new customer can connect and when. For this project it is the most important body on the list, because without an interconnection there is no data center.
Say it: ER-cotThe state agency that regulates electric utilities and oversees ERCOT. It approves the rules ERCOT operates under, and it takes public comment on filings. It granted the Batch Zero pause on Aug 20 and takes up ERCOT's audit reports on Dec 17.
Say it: P-U-C-TThe state environmental agency. It issues the wastewater discharge permit this project still needs, and its permits carry formal public comment periods.
Say it: TEE-seckHandles state highways and farm to market roads. Any work on FM 2224, FM 1954, or US 79 runs through TxDOT, not the county.
Say it: tex-DOTThe nonprofit corporation that distributes treated water to rural members in this area. It buys wholesale from the City of Wichita Falls. It would be the water provider for this site, and it holds monthly public board meetings.
Despite the name, not a court and not about trials. It is the governing body of a Texas county: four commissioners elected by precinct, plus a county judge elected countywide. It sets the budget, maintains county roads, and votes on tax abatements.
The energy company building co-located power generation for Google's Wilbarger County site near Vernon. Named here only because that project is often confused with this one.
Power
A million watts. A rough feel for scale: a large Texas wind farm might be 200 MW, and a big natural gas plant 500 to 800 MW. This project has requested 1,000 MW, which is 1 gigawatt.
ERCOT's term for a single customer drawing 75 MW or more. Large loads carry disclosure and curtailment obligations under Senate Bill 6, passed in 2025.
The process of physically and contractually connecting a new large customer to the grid. It is a queue, it is slow, and it is where most proposed data centers actually live or die.
ERCOT's first group of large load requests to be studied together under a new process the PUCT approved in June 2026. Classification notices were due Aug 7 and were halted by the Governor's directive on Aug 3. The PUCT approved that delay on Aug 20, and ERCOT sent conditional classifications to utilities on Sept 3.
A request to a regulator to be let off a deadline or rule for a stated reason. The PUCT granted ERCOT one on Aug 20 so the Batch Zero study could wait for the Governor's audit.
ERCOT's term, in its community impact questionnaire, for a data center of at least 25 MW but under 75 MW.
The two groups a large load can land in for Batch Zero. Base load projects qualified through one of seven eligibility paths, such as already being energized or far along in development. Studied load projects are included in the study but have not met a base load path.
ERCOT's preliminary placement of each large load as base load, studied load, or excluded, sent privately to utilities on Sept 3, 2026. Conditional because it can still change through disputes and the verification audit.
The ERCOT rule change that created Batch Zero and its eligibility criteria.
ERCOT's recurring study of whether the grid stays stable with planned new connections.
Being required to cut power use when the grid is strained. Large loads can be made subject to it as a condition of connecting.
A facility where high voltage transmission lines are connected and routed. The Bowman switch station sits on the proposed property and is how power would reach the site.
Water
The standard unit for water and wastewater volumes. This project states a maximum of 32,000 gpd. Watch whether a figure is a maximum day or an annual average, because they are very different numbers.
Cooling equipment that rejects heat to the air using large fans, rather than evaporating water. It uses far less water than cooling towers and considerably more electricity, and the fans are the source of the noise.
A cooling system where the same water circulates continuously rather than evaporating away. It still has to be filled once, and that one time fill can be large.
Submerging servers in a non conductive fluid. Quieter than fan cooling. This project states it is not being considered.
A standard biological wastewater treatment method. It is what the proposed on site treatment plant would use, followed by chlorination.
A lined basin where treated wastewater sits and evaporates rather than being discharged. The plan is to use one until a discharge permit is approved.
State authorization to release treated wastewater into a creek or river. This is the permit that has not been issued, and the one with a public comment period attached.
An engineering study of whether existing pipes and pumps can deliver a requested volume, and what would have to be replaced. The final one for this project was due in mid 2026.
Funding projects that return water to a watershed to offset consumption elsewhere. A real commitment, but it does not necessarily put water back in the basin the water came from.
Noise
The most common way to state a noise level. It adjusts the measurement to match how human hearing responds, which means it deliberately understates low frequency sound. Almost every noise limit you will see quoted is in dBA.
A measurement that gives low frequency sound its full weight. Fan and equipment hum shows up here that dBA misses. If you only ask for a dBA limit, you may not get relief from the sound people actually complain about.
A level the designer intends to achieve. It is not a permit condition, it is not enforceable, and no one is required to measure whether it was met. The 65 dBA figure for this project is a design target.
Required distance between a structure and a property line or another use. The stated plan puts buildings 500 feet from the property line.
Process
The part of a public meeting closed to the public. Texas law permits it for certain subjects, including economic development negotiations. It permits it, it does not require it.
The state law requiring government bodies to meet in public and post agendas ahead of time, generally 72 hours. It also defines the narrow list of subjects that may be discussed behind closed doors.
The specific provision allowing a closed session to discuss economic development negotiations. Cited by the county attorney at the April 27 meeting.
The provision keeping certain tax abatement information confidential during negotiations. Also cited at that meeting.
A local agreement that forgives some property tax for a period of years in exchange for investment. It is also the main vehicle a Texas county has for attaching binding conditions to a project. Archer County denied one for this project on June 22.
A contract clause requiring a company to repay tax benefits if it fails to meet its commitments. It only exists if there is a contract.
A written request for government records, sometimes called an open records request. Anyone can file one, they cost little, and agencies face deadlines to respond.
A formal questionnaire. ERCOT is running two: one verifying what developers claimed to get into Batch Zero, and one on state and community impact.
A sworn, notarized statement that answers are true and accurate. ERCOT requires one with both RFIs, which gives the answers legal weight.
The PUCT's docket or project number. Project No. 59142, Review of ERCOT's Interconnection Processes for Large Loads, is where the Batch Zero audit filings live.
ERCOT's process for a developer to challenge a decision, such as being excluded from Batch Zero.
A formal proceeding, closer to a trial than a comment period, that affected parties can request on certain state permits. Higher bar to get, considerably more weight if granted.
Local rules on what can be built where. Texas counties generally cannot zone unincorporated land, which is the single fact that shapes everything about this situation.
Land outside any city limits. It falls under county authority, which in Texas is deliberately limited.
The band of unincorporated land just outside a city where the city holds some limited authority. Worth knowing because it comes up whenever people ask why Wichita Falls cannot act.
The geographic quarter of the county each commissioner represents. A call from inside a commissioner's precinct carries more weight than one from outside it.
Names you will see
The codename used in county filings for the proposed Archer County data center. Codenames are standard practice for large developments and they do change.
The entity that filed the tax abatement application for the Three Way Road site in June 2026.
Industry shorthand for the largest class of data center, built for a single large operator rather than rented out in pieces.
A federal research lab. Its 2024 report to Congress is the source of the national data center energy and water estimates cited on the water page.
A Texas research nonprofit. Its January 2026 white paper is the source of the statewide data center water estimate.
An industry ratio of water consumed per unit of computing energy. Useful for comparing facilities, easy to misread, and it excludes the water used to generate the electricity.